The Material Culture of the Eskimo in West Greenland. 145 



directed edges — not the others — carefully rounded. The blade slit 

 with the part around it is entirely preserved; it is 2.5 cm. deep and 

 3 — 4 mm. wide. Here, also, have been neither rivets nor lashing. 



Hitherto, I have in vain sought information of the Greenlanders 

 living around me as to what the wanting parts, the blade, line, etc., 

 look like. The hunting of Right Whales by the Greenlanders declined 

 shortly after the beginning of the colonization; as the Danes erected 

 some whaling stations furnished with modern implements. Yet I have 

 no doubt that traditions still exist, and persons who are expected to 

 have knowledge of the subject have been mentioned to me by name, 

 but hitherto I have had no opportunity of meeting them. Everybody 

 knows the main features of the hunting: The umiaq was rowed by 

 men with kayak paddles, who faced the bow. The numerous large 

 bladders lay inflated in the boat, they often consisted of whole skins of 

 Phoca barbata, either singly or two or more tied together. The harpoon 

 was thrust from the boat and the hunters tried continually from boat 

 and kayak to attach more and more floats till the whale became so ex- 

 hausted that it could be killed with lances. Consequently, the hunting 

 is conducted in very much the same manner as that described by Mur- 

 doch (p. 101) from Point Barrow. ^ 



In his book "The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay" Boas 

 figures from Cumberland Sound a very interesting old whaling harpoon 

 with its accessories which is, consequently from Eskimo tribes whose 

 material culture must be said to agree most closely with that of the 

 Greenland tribe. Boas does not describe it very fully, but refers to a 

 model previously described by him. This paper is not accessible to 

 me, but his figure is so excellent that almost all details can be seen on 

 it. I take the liberty of reproducing it here (Fig. 13). 



This big harpoon, which is about 18 cm. long, is very interesting. 

 As with the Greenland harpoons described above the line hole is advanced 

 close up to the dorsal edge; and, as shown in my Fig. 12, В, it is situated 

 rather far backwards. The hinder end is extended into a notched barb. 

 While the hinder part of the harpoon has its greatest width in the ver- 

 tical plane, the fore end is wider in the horizontal plane, with edges 



1 Besides the floats intended to be used for the harpoons there was a layer 

 of common bladders which were intended to keep the umiaq afloat in case it 

 should be upset or broken to pieces by the whale. This is also mentioned by 

 the older authors who have been eyewitnesses of the Greenlanders' whale hunt, 

 and is told by Greenlanders even to-day. But Steensby (Eskimokulturen, p. 65) 

 declares that this "must beyond doubt be due to misunderstanding," "because 

 an umiaq can do without such an improvement," and "that such circumspection 

 is quite imprecedented among the Eskimos." 



Against this] it may justly be argued, that it is a very strange thought 

 that such people as Egede, Saabye and Fabricius should not understand the 

 Greenlanders, that a wet boat-skin sinks Hke a stone, and that, really, the Eskimo 

 do not thoughtlessly sacrifice their lives any more than other living creatures do 



12* 



